The Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) is a stronger indicator of asthma-related quality of life than the simpler GINA Level of Control assessment, providing physicians with a more accurate picture of how asthma affects patients' daily well-being, emotional health and physical activities beyond just symptom measurement.
- The Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) showed a strong negative correlation with quality-of-life scores, while the GINA assessment showed only a weak correlation in a study of 83 adults with partially controlled or uncontrolled asthma.
- Among study participants, 61.4% had uncontrolled asthma and 38.6% had partially controlled asthma, with patients experiencing restrictions on physical activities, emotional stress and environmental challenges.
- While the ACQ requires more time to administer than GINA's four-question format, its stronger relationship with quality-of-life outcomes suggests the additional effort provides valuable information for evaluating patient well-being.
The Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) may be a stronger indicator of asthma-related quality of life than the simpler Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Level of Control assessment, offering physicians a more accurate picture of how asthma affects patients beyond symptoms alone.
The claim was reported in the paper, “A Cross-Sectional Observational Study of the Correlation Between Asthma-Related Quality of Life (AQLQ) and Asthma Control Measures,” published in Cureus. The cross-sectional observational study evaluated 83 adults with partially controlled or uncontrolled asthma and examined how different asthma control measures correlated with scores from the AQLQ, a credible tool that assesses symptoms, activity limitations, emotional well-being and environmental factors.
Researchers in India found that ACQ scores demonstrated a strong negative correlation with quality-of-life scores, associating poor asthma control with lower well-being. By contrast, the study found that the GINA Level of Control assessment showed a weak negative correlation with quality-of-life outcomes.
According to the paper’s authors, the study’s findings suggest that although the GINA assessment remains a practical tool because of its simplicity, the ACQ may better capture the real-world impact of asthma on patients’ daily lives.
Investigators noted that people who have uncontrolled asthma often experience restrictions on physical activities, emotional stress and environmental challenges that may not be fully accounted through routine clinical assessments.
The study highlights a growing recognition among physicians that asthma management should focus on symptom control and lung function as well as patient-reported quality of life, researchers said. Additionally, they noted that improvements in clinical measures do not always translate into meaningful improvements in day-to-day well-being.
Of the 83 patients enrolled, 61.4% had uncontrolled asthma and 38.6% had partially controlled asthma. Participants were 43 years on average, and more than half were female. Researchers also documented common asthma-related conditions, including allergic rhinitis and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Although differences in quality-of-life scores between partially controlled and uncontrolled patients did not reach statistical significance, investigators said the gap exceeded the threshold considered clinically meaningful, suggesting that patients with uncontrolled asthma experience substantially greater impairment in daily life.
Additionally, the study found only weak relationships between traditional lung function measurements and quality of life. Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) demonstrated a weak positive correlation with quality-of-life scores, while peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) showed no significant relationship with quality of life.
Investigators said the data reinforce previous evidence that physiological measures alone may not fully reflect a patient’s experience of living with asthma.
Researchers did report the ACQ requires more time to administer than the GINA assessment, which consists of only four questions addressing symptoms, activity limitation, nighttime awakenings and rescue medication use. However, the stronger relationship between ACQ scores and quality-of-life outcomes suggests the additional effort may provide valuable information when evaluating patient well-being, they said.
The authors cautioned that the study was conducted at a single center and included a relatively small sample size. They recommended larger, multicenter studies to determine whether the ACQ consistently outperforms simpler asthma control assessments in predicting quality of life.
